cauliflower gratin suggestions
hello all! we're having a dairy seder again this year, and one of the sort of main dishes i was thinking of making was a cauliflower gratin (cauliflower, heavy cream, cheese - basics), and i was hoping for some suggestions on any special extras that i could add in to make it a little more exciting. no meat, no bread-type items, no corn - other than that, i'm open to any recommendations! thanks for the help!
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11 Comments:
Sometimes I add sliced zucchini or peas to mine. It's also very tasty with a little garlic in the cream (but then, I'm a bit of a garlic freak). You've got me thinking about this now, so I think I'll make some tomorrow!
yankeesgal at 12:22AM on 04/04/09
Peppers. If you like a little heat, then go with that, but some non-hot red and green peppers would add a punch of color.
dbcurrie at 12:25AM on 04/04/09
I have made the cauliflower gratin recipe in Thomas Keller's Bouchon, which is a great dish. Of course, being Keller, the technique is really important and it is very labor intensive.
The recipe calls for Comte or Emmentaler cheese, and good cheese makes a statement in this dish.
Two ingredients he uses that surprised me: 1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish and a pinch of curry powder. You don't taste the horseradish and curry individually in the final dish. they just lift the cauliflower flavor nicely.
SSMom at 7:51AM on 04/04/09
A dairy seder? That's cool. Are you still going to have the shank bone on the seder plate?
(Yes, I know that this is entirely nonresponsive to the question, but you have piqued my curiosity! :-P)
NYCEater at 9:30AM on 04/04/09
Capers, parsley, olives, golden raisins? I can't decide if that sounds disgusting or really, really good. They all work with roasted cauliflower, so why not gratin?
annatr at 10:23AM on 04/04/09
I love cauliflower au gratin with a nice scraping of fresh nutmeg at the last minute - it makes a lovely flavour
bareneed at 11:10AM on 04/04/09
The parsley sounds good, and so does some Gruyere. Mmmm. I don't digest cauliflower very well, but a gratin may be worth an upset stomach. :)
buffy at 11:14AM on 04/04/09
I've made the Bouchon gratin several times as well, and I love it. I don't think it's *that* labor intensive, esp. for a Keller recipe, but it's not a dump, mix, bake recipe. Basically you make a sauce with the diced stems and some aromatics. I think there are some panko breadcrumbs on top, but certainly not essential.
renzata at 1:30PM on 04/04/09
add lots of garlic to the cream, to me that adds just the right amount of "french" to the gratin..... and gruyere.... mmmm, i have some cream, cauliflower, gruyere in the house and i always have lots of garlic....
pooch at 3:55PM on 04/04/09
I second the garlic and gruyere ideas... maybe also flavor the heavy cream with some shallots or sofrito/salt/pepper which adds great flavor... you could also try adding sun dried tomatoes, I think they would compliment well the cauliflower...
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 6:26PM on 04/04/09
thanks for all the ideas guys! i can't decide which to go with, but i'm looking forward to experimenting :)
@nyceater: yes, we'll still have the shank bone - the dairy seder isn't so much for the kosher issue as it is because i'm a vegetarian so rarely cook meat, and my guests will have to put up with that :) but the shank bone i figure is just left over bits from someone else's dinner, and it's free at whole foods, so i figure no harm in throwing that on the table (though the article about dairy seders in the new york times mentioned having a fruit or something on the seder plate as an alternative to the shank bone).
billyburgwife at 7:03PM on 04/04/09